Tag Archives: billboard liberation

Public Ad Campaign strikes again with a new advertising takeover. This one took over 106 bus shelter ads in Madrid. Artists around the world were asked to submit text for the billboards. The above photo shows text I personally submitted. It translates to: “advertisement for a bad movie.” Check out all the other photos and artists here.

Here’s the project summary:

MaSAT (Madrid Street Advertising Takeover) is the second international street ad takeover project, and the third in a series of civil disobedience projects intent on changing our expectations of public behavior in our shared environments. For this SAT project we targeted Cemusa bus shelters in 4 heavily populated locations around Madrid. This time, at the request of our Madrid based collaborators, participants were asked to submit only text based works. This fantastic idea allowed us to open up the submission request process to a wide range of individuals including sociologist, teachers, lawyers, gallery owners and anyone with a concern for the curation and participation in public space. Each of the 106 individuals were asked to submit one sentiment they wished to see exhibited on the streets. The result is a variety of unique visions of public dialogue and a glimpse at the possibilities available when we open up our public environment in a truly public way.

The Billboard Liberation Front have announced “a new advertising improvement campaign” targeting McDonald’s billboards. They’re calling the re-branding effort “I’m Sick Of It.” The first hacked billboard appeared at the corner of California and Hyde in San Francisco.

Posterchild did quite a few digital billboard alterations during his stay in New York last year (including one very special one), but this might be our favorite. The face is of Star Fox character Andross. Even if, like me, you have no idea who it is, it’s pretty damn cool looking!

Prague’s street art collective EPOS 257 recently converted some blank billboards into abstract art with the help of a few paintball guns. They write:

Shooting into the white surface of vacant billboards with a paintball gun – blank canvasses in an urban environment, a gesture expressing an opinion and at the same time abstract painting in a urban environmemt.

Tons of documentation is coming in from last month’s incredible New York Street Advertising Takeover, where hoards of artists and every day people came together to reclaim the streets by covering over 120 of New York’s illegal billboards with art. The project was organized by the Public Ad Campaign. Check out these three videos from the project:

This past Saturday over 120 illegal billboards were white-washed and covered with art in New York City by a team of volunteers and artists. The guerrilla operation was organized by The Public Ad Campaign over the past four months.

As the main organizer explained to the artists who choose to get involved, the agency that owns the ‘attacked’ billboards operates on an illegal basis. “NPA outdoor operates over 500 street level billboards in NYC ranging in size from about 4’x4′ to 50’x12′. All of these advertising structures are illegal. I found this out by talking to the NYC Department of Buildings which has no permits for the NPA outdoor structures but has its hands full dealing with the rampant illegal billboard situation. I have also spoken directly with NPA outdoor employees who have told me that the NYPD will jail them from time to time at which point NPA lawyers bail them out and they are compensated 500 dollars for the nuisance of spending the night in jail”.

NPA Outdoor had teams putting their illegal advertising back up early Sunday morning. I personally spotted ads going up over artwork on 8th Avenue and 26th Street at 2 AM. Celis interviewed an artist at the afterparty who said, “Art is about the experience, about living the moment, and what we did was so fucking great for New York that even if they take down our pieces, we have learned that we can do it, and we will do it again. New yorkers had fun today in a very unusual way. It’s priceless!”

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Urban Prankster covers pranks, hacks, participatory art, and other creative endeavors that take place in public places in cities across the world. It is edited by Charlie Todd.
This blog was updated from 2008 to 2011. It was retired because in that time I realized I wasn't interested in being a blogger and that it was taking time away from my primary focus, creating.